Metaphor in twentieth century theory of teaching composition: as a trope, an aid to expression, a problem-solving strategy and a way of knowing

Abstract

If the composition teacher wishes to be consistent, that is, avoid offering contradictory advice and teaching contradictory strategems for the production of writing, he must be aware of the assumptions on which his pedagogy is grounded. The ways various pedagogies treat the problem of language and meaning are related primarily to two world views: one suggests that reality exists outside the consciousness of its perceptors and a second suggests that reality is interpreted by its perceptors and constructed through rhetoric. Pedagogies grounded in assumptions relating to the second world view endeavor to provide students with an understanding of the dialectical relations of writer, language, reality, and audience. They also suggest that both literal and metaphorical language are significant aspects of our linguistic expression. This study advocates a pedagogy that accords with the second world view and recommends the teaching of metaphorical thinking because such training will (1) help students understand how language constructs and reconstructs our understanding of reality, (2) help them cultivate the necessary objectivity to evaluate their personal constructions, and (3) help them appreciate the nature of style and presence in writing. When writers make meaning, interpret experience by confering meaning on entities, events, and signs, they must be aware of the stylistic possibilities open to their particular kind of discourse. Literal usage is one aspect of the way people use language to interpret reality; metaphor is another. Our educational system trains students to literal usage; this study advocates training students in metaphorical expression as well.